For most of us chocolate is our dopamine & guilt pleasure. It is one of those food items that makes us feel happy & better. Whether you consume chocolate in solid or liquid, milk or dark form, it gives you an unimaginable pleasure. Chocolate is the first food we search when we are sad & upset. In fact we consider cocoa beans & its by product a solution to sleepless nights. There are around 300 naturally occuring chemicals in chocolate. Some of them impact the brain through release of neurotransmitters. These chemical reactions in our brain mimic the feeling we experience when we feel happy. These happy feelings are attributed to love drug, phenylethylamine, since it causes our pulse rate to rise higher, the same way we feel happy when we are in love. The other neurotransmitter that elevates chocolate as mood lifter is serotonin.This neurotransmitter is released with the help of tryptophan found in chocolate.
When we eat chocolate, anandamide causes production of Dopamine, another feel good hormone. Finally chocolate releases endorphins into the brain that makes you happy. This also decreases stress levels.
Let us discuss if consuming chocolate is healthy & in which form?
Not all chocolates have health benefits. Dark chocolate is considered better than milk chocolate. It all boils down to how much cocoa is left in the final product, quality of ingredients & additives used. Dark chocolate has less sugar added & more cocoa left as compared to milk chocolate. Milk/white chocolate is more of fats and sugar & in fact has nothing which can be considered as chocolate. Dark chocolate usually contains between 35% to 100% cocoa & less sugar & therefore is relatively bitter in taste. So if you are a milk chocolate lover, we do not have good news for you. Milk chocolate is diluted with milk solids, sugar & cream. It is sweet since it has less cocoa.
So why is dark chocolate considered to be special, healthy & good for our moods? Dark chocolate can be a powerful antioxidant. However do not consider going on a dark chocolate binge since too much of good thing is also as bad as too much of bad thing. So if you want to overdo it with a bar or two of dark chocolate, you can still get that happy feeling by going for a jog or doing strength training.
Consumption of dark chocolate is said to release endomorphin through the chemicals found in cocoa & sugar. Tryptophan, which promotes the release of serotonin and phenethylamine linked to having an antidepressant effect can all be found in the properties of dark chocolate. This is mainly attributed to dark chocolate’s impact on the brain. Consumption of dark chocolate has also been linked with powerful memory since it has the power to improve visual-spatial memory & organisation, working memory, scanning and tracking & abstract reasoning.
Dark chocolate has a rich tradition of improving the mental state of people & is used to overcome stress & to be happy.
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